
USC knew this season was not going to be picture-perfect. After losing one of the country’s top players in JuJu Watkins for the year due to ACL recovery, expectations understandably shifted.
One year after going 31–4 and reaching the Elite Eight, USC went 18–14 and fell in the second round of the NCAA tournament as a No. 9 seed to No. 1 South Carolina. With the defeat, the dream of winning the program's first title since the 1983–84 season was pushed to another year.